Schwarzenegger: Governor wage was petty cash

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The action hero served in the office for seven years from 2003, but has now returned to making blockbuster movies.

Arnold refused to accept a wage while he was governor, instead pumping any money he would have made back into the community. He recently claimed he could have made $200 million from acting during the time and has now insisted he had no need for the salary.

"I actually started [because] California was the crisis and from that sense California and America has given me everything, every opportunity that I have, everything I've accomplished in life was because of America. I should take seven years out of my life to serve the people of California regardless of the lack of pay," he told Cover Media. "I gave the money back - it's $187,000 year, it's petty cash. I would do it for free, it was an honour for me to do the job...I felt honoured to serve the people and it's the most educational thing I've ever done."

The figure Arnold turned down is actually thought to be $206,500 a year.

The actor doing what he is best known for now, with his latest release The Last Stand. He plays a sheriff of a small town called Ray, who has to mould his deputies into action heroes so they can stop a Mexican gang boss escaping across the border.

The 65-year-old always knew he would make a big screen return at some point.

"You should look at it more like an on-going acting career. Stepping out of that for seven years and doing the governorship and then going right back to what I was doing before," he explained. "There was no kind of debate, 'Should I go back to movies, or should I go back to action movies?' Because one thing that was very clear and I always made it very clear from the beginning [was] that I'm not trying to become a career politician. So this is not like I am going to be governor for seven years, then I'm going to run for senate, then I'm going to run for congress... that was never my interest."